A brief feature on Yahoo Finance shows that the new “alarming” trend toward youngsters staying with parents is not alarming at all.

A screencap of the relevant graph:

This shows the percent of younger folks 18-29 who are living with parents.

The underlying article at Business Insider links to Census data, but the Census website starts the data at 1960, missing the important left half.  I had been observing only the left half when comparing the 1940 and 1950 censuses. 1940 had extended families, often with boarders and housekeepers in the house.

Last month I compared the houses of 1940 and 1950.

Before 1940:

After 1950:

Since 2000, new houses look a lot more like the pre-1940 houses. Large, multi-story, with subparts inside. In other words, the nuclear family and nuclear house were a brief departure from the norm of extended families.

Deepstate’s attempt to atomize the family didn’t last. Families reasserted their proper role.

The trend toward Working From Home is also a return to big households with a blend of residential and business activity. We haven’t yet adjusted our expectations and regulations to regain the full and proper advantage of big households.

But it appears that we’re starting to get there!